General description

The goal of this project is to create a lightweight biped which is able to walk in a dynamical stable way. The configuration of this biped is anthropomorphic focusing on the lower walking part which is composed of two articulated legs. The robot, all included, weighs about 30 kg and is 150cm tall. This robot is restricted to move only in the sagittal plane due to it’s one dimensional joints of which each of them are powered by an antagonistic pair of Pleated Pneumatic Artificial Muscles. These muscles are lightweight pneumatic actuators which work at low pressures and can be directly coupled without complex gearing mechanisms. The adaptable passive behaviour of these actuators will be exploited in the walking algorithms.

One of the key ideas in the design is modularity which resulted in nearly the same configuration for each structural element as well as the mechanical, electronic and low-level controlsoftware part. The joint design itself allows easy changes in actuator characteristics which creates a flexible experimental platform.